While the cultural impact of marketing stunts have always generated conversation, marketers are increasingly determined to get each campaign amplified, regardless of how much was spent on seeding the ideas.

But those who try to follow-up on social media messages are often stumped when it comes to putting them in an intellectual context.

Molson’s new spot, featuring folks from around the globe sharing fond anecdotes about Canadians they’ve encountered, was uploaded to YouTube concurrent with its launch on TV. The 90-second version was viewed over a million times within a couple of days.

Mainstream outlets still seem to want to add some illusion of objectivity to their acknowledgment of advertising. And not every popular commercial can spur a debate about ageism, racism or sexism — despite the best efforts of several Super Bowl ads.

So, reporters turn to Twitter for comments. Then they might call a professor who can spout off a few articulate sentences. But whatever can be added from those sources is at least better than contacting those behind the advertising itself.

Consider this quote highlighted in The Globe and Mail from Aaron Starkman, partner and creative director at Toronto agency Rethink, which was behind the beer commercial: “We’re lucky in that our name is Canadian, and we can do this,” he said. “People recognize the brand as being part of this country, like Tim Hortons and hockey.”

And so it goes when print media lack the ability to embed a video.

Tim Hortons also gained unprecedented attention this week when it capitalized on a product placement in a Canadian-themed episode of How I Met Your Mother. The Tweeted photo of a Timbit crammed inside a doughnut — as joked about on the show by Beverly Hills 90210 icon Jason Priestley — quickly became a national discussion. News outlets, including this one, followed suit.

The enthusiasm was rooted in the idea that it was some kind of spontaneous midday whim on the part of the company — as if the job of people in that company’s marketing department was to do anything but come up with ways in which to market things in exactly this way.

At least Tim’s didn’t try to be funnier than what the sitcom writers came up with.

When contacted for more information about how it happened, a spokesperson evidently emailed the same statement to anyone who asked — including a nod to the company’s “certified culinary scientist.” The statement was reprinted far and wide for all to read.

Clearly, the explanation of “The Priestley” stunt was scripted to appease anyone who asked. At least Tim’s didn’t try to be funnier than what the sitcom writers came up with.

Nonetheless, all these articles risk revealing that the marketing game is actually more calculated than ever. Those contrivances that led to so much cynicism toward more traditional approaches to advertising haven’t disappeared.

The difference now is that their worst cliches are no longer found on a billboard — they turn up in the form of news story quotations instead.